The Digest::MD5 module allows you to use the RSA Data Security Inc. MD5 Message Digest algorithm from within Perl programs. The algorithm takes as input a message of arbitrary length and produces as output a 128-bit "fingerprint" or "message digest" of the input.

Note that the MD5 algorithm is not as strong as it used to be. It has since 2005 been easy to generate different messages that produce the same MD5 digest. It still seems hard to generate messages that produce a given digest, but it is probably wise to move to stronger algorithms for applications that depend on the digest to uniquely identify a message.

The Digest::MD5 module provide a procedural interface for simple use, as well as an object oriented interface that can handle messages of arbitrary length and which can read files directly.

The following functions are provided by the Digest::MD5 module. None of these functions are exported by default.

md5($data,...)

This function will concatenate all arguments, calculate the MD5 digest of this "message", and return it in binary form. The returned string will be 16 bytes long.

The result of md5("a", "b", "c") will be exactly the same as the result of md5("abc").

md5_hex($data,...)

Same as md5(), but will return the digest in hexadecimal form. The length of the returned string will be 32 and it will only contain characters from this set: '0'..'9' and 'a'..'f'.

md5_base64($data,...)

Same as md5(), but will return the digest as a base64 encoded string. The length of the returned string will be 22 and it will only contain characters from this set: 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z', '0'..'9', '+' and '/'.

Note that the base64 encoded string returned is not padded to be a multiple of 4 bytes long. If you want interoperability with other base64 encoded md5 digests you might want to append the redundant string "==" to the result.

The object oriented interface to Digest::MD5 is described in this section. After a Digest::MD5 object has been created, you will add data to it and finally ask for the digest in a suitable format. A single object can be used to calculate multiple digests.

The following methods are provided:

$md5 = Digest::MD5->new

The constructor returns a new Digest::MD5 object which encapsulate the state of the MD5 message-digest algorithm.

If called as an instance method (i.e. $md5->new) it will just reset the state the object to the state of a newly created object. No new object is created in this case.

$md5->reset

This is just an alias for $md5->new.

$md5->clone

This a copy of the $md5 object. It is useful when you do not want to destroy the digests state, but need an intermediate value of the digest, e.g. when calculating digests iteratively on a continuous data stream. Example:

The $io_handle will be read until EOF and its content appended to the message we calculate the digest for. The return value is the $md5 object itself.

The addfile() method will croak() if it fails reading data for some reason. If it croaks it is unpredictable what the state of the $md5 object will be in. The addfile() method might have been able to read the file partially before it failed. It is probably wise to discard or reset the $md5 object if this occurs.

In most cases you want to make sure that the $io_handle is in binmode before you pass it as argument to the addfile() method.

$md5->add_bits($data, $nbits)

$md5->add_bits($bitstring)

Since the MD5 algorithm is byte oriented you might only add bits as multiples of 8, so you probably want to just use add() instead. The add_bits() method is provided for compatibility with other digest implementations. See Digest for description of the arguments that add_bits() take.

$md5->digest

Return the binary digest for the message. The returned string will be 16 bytes long.

Note that the digest operation is effectively a destructive, read-once operation. Once it has been performed, the Digest::MD5 object is automatically reset and can be used to calculate another digest value. Call $md5->clone->digest if you want to calculate the digest without resetting the digest state.

$md5->hexdigest

Same as $md5->digest, but will return the digest in hexadecimal form. The length of the returned string will be 32 and it will only contain characters from this set: '0'..'9' and 'a'..'f'.

$md5->b64digest

Same as $md5->digest, but will return the digest as a base64 encoded string. The length of the returned string will be 22 and it will only contain characters from this set: 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z', '0'..'9', '+' and '/'.

The base64 encoded string returned is not padded to be a multiple of 4 bytes long. If you want interoperability with other base64 encoded md5 digests you might want to append the string "==" to the result.

Since the MD5 algorithm is only defined for strings of bytes, it can not be used on strings that contains chars with ordinal number above 255 (Unicode strings). The MD5 functions and methods will croak if you try to feed them such input data:

License to copy and use this software is granted provided that it is identified as the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing this software or this function.

License is also granted to make and use derivative works provided that such works are identified as "derived from the RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm" in all material mentioning or referencing the derived work.

RSA Data Security, Inc. makes no representations concerning either the merchantability of this software or the suitability of this software for any particular purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty of any kind.

These notices must be retained in any copies of any part of this documentation and/or software.

This copyright does not prohibit distribution of any version of Perl containing this extension under the terms of the GNU or Artistic licenses.